La Liga Week 37 Schedule, Fixtures, Table & Stream: Barcelona, Lionel Messi Have Chance to Win Spanish League Championship

By Damon Salvadore First Posted: May 15, 2015 02:19 PM EDT

Well, this is it.

It's all come down to this. The previous 36 weeks of diving saves, amazing goals and incredible headers could very well end this weekend. Barcelona has been in first place since their Week 26 victory over Rayo Vallecano.

Barcelona currently has a 29-3-4 record giving them 90 points this season. If Barcelona defeats Atletico Madrid (last year's champions) on Sunday, they will automatically clinch the championship over their rival Real Madrid.

Barcelona has won 22 Spanish League titles, the second most ever. Real Madrid sits on top with 32 La Liga championships. Although real Madrid has more titles all-time, Barcelona has the chance to win their fifth title in the last seven years. Lionel Messi has been a member of six Barcelona Spanish Premier championship squads.

Speaking of Messi, he leads Barcelona with 40 La Liga goals this year, and he leads the league with 18 assists. Barcelona is also competing for the Champions League title against Juventus, which Messi has a tournament-leading 10 goals. Messi is the best player on Barcelona, but Neymar and Luis Suarez help make up an incredible South American trio that has been unbeatable.

Barcelona defeated Atletico Madrid in Week 18, 3-1, but that was at home. This upcoming match will be played at the Vicente Calderón Stadium with Atletico Madrid having home-field advantage.

Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has been the best netminder this year as well as leading the league in clean sheets and goals against average.

Real Madrid sits in second place with a 28-2-6 record giving them 86 points. However, last week's 2-2 draw against Valencia was extremely disappointing. Barcelona left last week with three points, while Real Madrid escaped with just one. Real Madrid does not control their own destiny, even if they were to win their last two games.

In other words, every Real Madrid fan will not only be rooting for their team, but Atletico Madrid to win as well. Real Madrid will be playing Espanyol this weekend, a team they beat 3-0 in Week 18.

The subplots heading into this week couldn't be juicier. Real Madrid needs Atletico Madrid to beat Barcelona this weekend to extend this race another week. But, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are huge rivals. See the Madrid Derby. Is it possible that Atletico Madrid won't field their best players or play to their full potential to ensure that Real Madrid doesn't have a chance to win it all? Stranger things have happened.